Comments on: In Nevada, Obama Touts Stimulus Plan, Solar Energyhttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/
The Politics and Government blog of The New York TimesTue, 09 Feb 2010 20:43:05 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.9https://static01.nyt.com/images/misc/NYT_logo_rss_250x40.pngNYThttp://www.nytimes.com
By: Vera Tabibhttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-1456961
Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:16:26 +0000http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/#comment-1456961Blood for oil while destroying the environment is not an option for the future…And for those who argue about the debt for future generations for the stimulus, how about the great debt of pollluted air, water, food, disappearing species that will affect every part of life for our children and thier children? I think they would rather have a future that they have to pay for than not at all…Why don’t you ask them?
]]>By: Bretthttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-1449221
Sat, 30 May 2009 17:44:30 +0000http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/#comment-1449221The renewable energy revolution is just around the corner. Billions of dollars of VC funding is being funneled into the industry. This will lead to significant technology break troughs that will make photon collection very efficient and cheep. Coupled with a feed in tariff, Cap and trade policy, REC trading, smart grid technology and a federal renewable portfolio standard, the days of big oil are over.
]]>By: Bert1http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-1447509
Thu, 28 May 2009 20:26:49 +0000http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/#comment-1447509I’ve had this idea running around in my head for quite awhile and I don’t know how practical it is.

How about scattering some very large flywheels around tjhe country and having them hooked to motor/generators.

They would be spun up at night during light electrical loads and during the day, during high demand, they would feed power into the grids.

As a side note: How about going back to a national 55 mph speed limit? We could also put governors on cars and trucks.

]]>By: Steve Bolgerhttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-1447219
Thu, 28 May 2009 13:12:41 +0000http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/#comment-1447219The best polycrystalline solar cells are about 11% efficient, but crystalline cells are about 25%, and two-layer cells with optimised band gaps have demonstrated conversion efficiency above 35%.

One of the bigger reasons to encourage electric cars would be the use of their batteries for energy storage on a nationwide grid.

]]>By: Flying Buckeye.http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-1447161
Thu, 28 May 2009 08:24:22 +0000http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/#comment-1447161Nuclear power may not generate greenhouse gasses, but it has it’s own unique problems– the unsolved waste disposal problem, the increased security risks associated with radioactive material, and political problems associated with the general public’s preference for many small accidents vs. one rare catastrophe. Nuclear power plants are also expensive to build: about $5,000/kW, compared to $1300/kW for coal fired plants and about $3000/kW for large solar-thermal plants. That doesn’t mean nuclear power can’t be part of the “green” energy movement, but nuclear power advocates (and I count myself one of them) are not going to get very far if they don’t at least acknowledge these problems.

Since this is a political blog, I have to say that I am always surprised by conservative support for our current electricity system in general. Electricity generation is part of the most regulated and least competitive industry in the country. Utility companies hold regional monopolies on power distribution, with the rates charged to customers set by government boards.

In contrast, solar energy, especially photovoltaic cell technology, has many features that should appeal to conservatives. Photovoltaic cells let homeowners and small business owners have personal control, by letting them generate some of their own electricity. Unlike nuclear power, which uses conventional and mature technology (a multistage Rankine cycle) to generate electricity, photovoltaic cells are undergoing a technological revolution that builds upon our existing expertise in semiconductor manufacturing, and costs are dropping rapidly. (For example, in the last 3 years, First Solar has dropped the cost of manufacturing PV cells from $3000/kW to $1000/kW. ) The structure of the solar cell industry, with many small, entrepreneurial companies, leads directly to the kind of competition and innovation that conservatives supposedly value.

There are some practical advantages as well. Electricity demand varies greatly during the 24 hour cycle, but conventional power plants (including nuclear plants) are hard to cycle up and down like that. Solar energy will shave the peak demand from conventional power plants, by generating electricity when demand is highest. Lastly, PV cells offer the potential for truly decentralized power generation — something I wish we’d had last fall, when a wind storm took out a main transmission line, and my area was out of power for over a week.

]]>By: bob IIhttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-1447027
Thu, 28 May 2009 00:22:38 +0000http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/#comment-1447027During the late 70’s after Three Mile Island, the NRC allowed the construction of a nuclear breeder plant at Clinch River in Tennessee but it was inadvertently built on a fault line and the Seabrook New Hampshire nuclear plant imported seawater to cool the turbines and then exported without recooling it killing all the maring life within about a half mile of the sea portal. Not popular among the natives. Then there’s the pesky waste problem. The University of Florida has a nuclear reactor and if it had a “meltdown” it would be 75 years or more before you could live in the Southeast again. We can harness the Gulf Stream and the tides, wind and solar energy. We can’t harness Big Oil psychopaths who own our Congress and kill our soldiers to retrieve oil contracts for them and this is the biggest hurdle we face to our survival. It is us as in Big Oil USA!
]]>By: Jane Smithhttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-1447023
Thu, 28 May 2009 00:19:03 +0000http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/#comment-1447023The best solar cells are about 11% efficient. We need to invest in research to enhance solar cell efficiency and not start installing low efficiency systems that will cuase billions to replace in a few years.
]]>By: Debra Garsonhttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-1446953
Wed, 27 May 2009 22:16:46 +0000http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/#comment-1446953Obama certainly engages in doublespeak. I like the idea that he said, “saved OR created 150,000 jobs…….” Whenever he refers to jobs, it is “saved OR created….” Obama is trying to get credit no matter what happens.

The financial markets certainly are not responding to the stimulus package in a favorable manner.

Up to this point in time, Obama spends and spends, and there really is nothig to show for it but a gigantic deficit.

]]>By: kaythttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-1446929
Wed, 27 May 2009 21:38:16 +0000http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/#comment-1446929We are headed in the right direction. Keep up the good work Mr. President.
]]>By: Paul Robertshttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-1446909
Wed, 27 May 2009 21:03:57 +0000http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/#comment-1446909Kind of interesting when no one was looking at him, Obama drove a gas guzzling V-8 Chrysler but now he is telling us all we need to conserve as he keeps the WH temp at 78. Hypocrisy in it’s purest form. What else do you expect? How about the information out about how the big Dem and Obama donors were spared their Chrysler dealerships while their local competition was axed? Does none of this concern anyone?
]]>By: matthttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-1446885
Wed, 27 May 2009 20:29:47 +0000http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/#comment-1446885Has anyone figured out how to confirm the claim from the White House that they have saved 150,000 jobs?

]]>By: Greg of MAhttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-1446883
Wed, 27 May 2009 20:24:02 +0000http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/#comment-1446883Atomic power is not renewable though bob, and the cost is in mining the radioactive materials, along with the lack of solutions for storing the waste. It’s unsustainable, just like oil, coal, and natural gas, but on a longer time line.
]]>By: bobhttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-1446859
Wed, 27 May 2009 19:44:06 +0000http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/in-nevada-obama-touts-stimulus-plan-solar-energy/#comment-1446859““We have a choice,” he said. “We can remain the world’s leading importer of oil, sending our money and our wealth away, or we can become the world’s leading exporter of clean energy.”

Sounds good, except that we’re bankrupting the country for a pile of magic beans. Atomic power would be a much cheaper and more effective alternative energy source.